Obituaries
Tony Baker
Mike Vimpany remembers the man who oversaw Hampshire’s move from Northlands Road to the Ageas Bowl Tony Baker dedicated his life to cricket. An allrounder who opened the batting and bowling for Old Tauntonians and Southampton
Touring Club in the late 1960s and 1970s, he was one of the finest club cricketers of his era, as well as a handy basketball player. Tall and upright, he was Touring Club’s opening batsman and bowler, secretary, fixture secretary and treasurer – all at the same time. “He was a dogged opening batsman, seldom playing bad shots and always working out ways to score runs when the going was tough,” reflected his friend and team-mate Derek Tulk.
The advent of competitive league cricket in the early 1970s saw Old Tauntonians win three of the first five Southern League championships and finish runners-up to Deanery, their Southampton arch rivals, in the sixth. In 1972, he took all 10 Netley Sports wickets for 26 runs playing for OTs in the Hector Young Evening Trophy final. He then went on to become treasurer and chairman of the Southern League.
From 1986 to 2001, Baker was Hampshire’s secretary and chief executive, overseeing the move from Northlands Road to the Ageas Bowl, raising the county’s profile and helping persuade David Gower to move from Leicestershire. He was previously club treasurer for eight years.